Physiological approach to terrorism

The physiological approach to terrorism suggests the role
of the media in promoting the spread of terrorism. Due to media coverage, the methods,
demands, and goals of terrorists are quickly made known to potential terrorists, who may
be inspired to imitate them upon becoming stimulated by media accounts of terrorist acts.

David G. Hubbard (1983) takes a physiological approach to
analyzing the causes of terrorism. He discusses three substances produced in the body
under stress: norepinephrine, a compound produced by the adrenal gland and sympathetic
nerve endings and associated with the fight or flight, physiological
response of individuals in stressful situations; acetylcholine, which is produced by the
parasympathetic nerve endings and acts to dampen the accelerated norepinephrine response;
and endorphins, which develop in the brain as a response to stress and
narcotize the brain, being 100 times more powerful than morphine.

Kent Layne Oots and Thomas C. Wiegele (1985) have also
proposed a model of terrorist contagion based on physiology. Their model demonstrates that
the psychological state of the potential terrorist has important implications for the
stability of society. In their analysis, because potential terrorists become aroused in a
violence-accepting way by media presentations of terrorism. Terrorists must, by the
nature of their actions, have an attitude which allows violence.

According to Oots and Wiegele, an individual moves from
being a potential terrorist to being an actual terrorist through a process that is
psychological, physiological, and political. "If the neurophysiological model of
aggression is realistic, Oots and Wiegele assert, there is no basis for the
argument that terrorism could be eliminated if its sociopolitical causes were
eliminated.